


that beautiful gentle angry sunlight

by 360prompts (hangryBee)



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-07-05 11:00:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15862278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hangryBee/pseuds/360prompts
Summary: Marceline's in a bit of a funk after the whole vampire cloud thing is dealt with. There are some things she will miss, now that she's a vampire again.And even though she's used to dealing with her thoughts and feelings on her own, she's glad when Jake shows up out of the blue.Sometimes just having someone next to you is all it takes...





	that beautiful gentle angry sunlight

**Author's Note:**

> Kind of canon compliant i think, it’s been a while since i watched stakes and the aftermath.
> 
> This is literally the first thing i’ve written in about five years or more. I hope it’s at least kind of enjoyable.  
> Please let me know if it was, that would mean a lot to me.

Just two days ago she was out with her friends. In the middle of the day. Basking in the sun. Feeling it’s warmth on her skin. Having a picnic. With actual food. And actual drinks. Not just color. Actually chewing, actually swallowing, tasting the sweet and sour, the bubbly and cool. Feeling liquid trickling down her throat. The filling sensation in her stomach. The heat of the sun on her face. That beautiful touch of sunlight on her skin. That gentle caress of sunlight. Two days.

 

It was like a dream. Like she’d just woken up from a beautiful dream that let her remember, just for a moment, what it had felt like. What it had been like to be… day-dwelling. Again. After almost one thousand years.

 

Now here she was. Back to sitting on her porch, staring out her cave entry. Waiting for nighttime. Back to hoping for rain, the only time she could go out without having to worry about being burnt to a crisp or put on layers and layers to protect herself. Sitting here with her bass and a bowl of strawberries.

 

She didn’t remember when she’d started talking about how yummy they were. How sweet and savory. One thousand years of sarcasm and no one knew if she was lying or joking or honest. Sometimes she wasn’t quite sure herself anymore.

 

There on the porch, plucking the strings, she thought about all that. And she started to feel that familiar churning in her chest. Wandering up into her throat as her tongue was searching for the right words to put to the low thrumming of her instrument.

 

That beautiful burning heat of sunlight... How much she wanted to feel it again.

 

“Hey Marceline”

 

So suddenly interrupted she glanced to her right forgetting the melody she was weaving. “Oh hey Jake” She furrowed her brow “Uhm, you’re alone? No Finn?”

 

“Yeah, he’s out doing Kingdom Stuff and Lady’s busy helping PB with some other stuff or something and so i just thought ‘who else can i bother with my stellar personality’? And you’re obviously the first choice on that list.” He scratched the back of his head. “I can leave if you’d rather be alone. I’d totally get it, you know. We all need some alone time sometimes and the last few days have been… eventful. Especially for you, i guess.” He gestured at her and threw her a crooked smile.  


 

“Nah, it’s cool, you can stay.” She patted the planks next to her, placing the strawberries so he could reach them too. He wouldn’t take any, she knew, but he would appreciate the gesture.

 

They sat there for a while as she started strumming notes again. Sometimes they would hum along. Sometimes only one of them, then making a harmony for a bit, just fooling around. He didn’t comment on how somber her playing was. He probably understood more from that than any other being in all of Ooo.

 

“So what have you been up to since… the whole thing.” He looked at her, trying not to be obvious, just out of the corner of his eyes.

 

She took a deep breath. “Oh you know… same old. Same stuff I’d been doing before the whole thing.”  _ Trying not to think of all the things I lost again. _

 

“Cool. Cool. That’s - cool.” He was shifting around. “I don’t know if it’s okay to say this but, it was really fun hanging out with you throughout the last couple of days and having this adventure with you and just fooling around and all. And I’m really hoping that it wasn’t the last time.”

 

They both knew the unspoken part.  _ Not in the sun, so maybe not in the daytime but… _

 

“Yeah it was fun.” _ Doing all the things I’ll never get to do and enjoy again.  _ “We should do it again sometime. Maybe without the vampire stuff though. That wasn’t so cool.”

 

“Yeah, no, totally. Totally without the vampire stuff.” He flinched, clearly chastising himself.

 

She stared at the bass in her lap for a bit, somewhere between deeply focused on the notes and getting herself to actually say the next part. “Hey, Jake?” He made a questioning hum to show that he was listening, albeit a bit weary. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do here so… thanks.” She didn’t look at him.

 

He stretched his legs to draw his feet along the water’s surface. “Of course. That’s… that’s what friends do.” Some sort of broken chuckle escaped his nose. “Sorry I’m not that good at it.”

 

And for the first time in two days she laughed. It was sad and it was small, barely there, really, but still. More than nothing. “Nah dude, you’re doing enough, don’t worry about it.”

 

She went back to pulling strings and he went back to listening and humming and worrying about what to say.

 

Until eventually he just tumbled out. “PB didn’t mean to… I mean, she didn’t want for this to go the way it did.”

 

“I know.”

 

“I mean, if she seems happy with this, it’s not because she’s happy that it didn’t work.”

 

“I know.”

 

“It’s just that you’re the only one she doesn’t have to worry about losing to time.”

 

“I know.”

 

“And that’s just… it’s a huge relieve for her that you’re not going to…”

 

“I know, Jake.”  _ It’s the same for me with her. I’ve lost count of how many friends there were before you guys. How many years there were none once they’d died and I hadn’t met the next ones yet. Or maybe they hadn’t even been born yet. I know what it’s like. _

 

That angry burning sunlight. Too bright for her eyes. Too aggressive for her skin. That angry burning sunlight and how she longed to feel it on her face again.

 

He cleared his throat. “I just wanted to make sure you’re not angry with her if she’s too… smiley.”

 

Again that sad, barely there laugh. “Don’t worry, Jake. I get it.”

 

They sat there for some long silent minutes before she knuckled his arm. “Did you bring your viola?” He only shook his head. “There’s an old melodica somewhere in a kitchen cupboard if you can find it. If you want-” 

 

But he was already stretching in through the door and after some cluttering came back with an old dusty thing. “Well, as long as it still works, right? A little dust’s never killed anyone.” He blew a heavy gust all over it before playing through the keys, listening that they all worked properly. Then he gave her a wide grin. “Let’s do this.”

 

That’s how they spent the rest of their afternoon. 

 

And at some point Marceline realized, that for the past few minutes, she’d forgotten just how much she wanted to feel that gentle caress of that beautiful, warm sunlight on her face.

 

_ You’re doing more than enough, Jake. _

**Author's Note:**

> Before posting I did a quick check on the canon compliance and now I feel like it doesn't fit at all...  
> Oh well, what's done is done, i guess.


End file.
